Students’ Errors in Solving Word Problems Involving Angles of Elevation and Depression and Performance Level in Grade 9 Trigonometry: Basis for Development of a Teacher-Made Material

Abstract: This study aimed to identify and classify the errors committed by Grade 10 students of a public high school and private high school when solving word problems involving angles of elevation and depression and to determine their performance level in trigonometry. Employing sequential-explanatory and correlational designs along with qualitative and quantitative approaches, the study used Newman’s Error Hierarchical Model to analyze the errors committed by the students which included reading errors, comprehension errors, transformation errors, process skills errors, and encoding errors. Data were gathered using worksheet, summative test and interview. Results showed that students’ reading errors were very low but very high in terms of comprehension error, transformation error, process skills error and encoding error. The summative test in trigonometry revealed that majority of the students performed poorly, with only a small percentage achieving fairly satisfactory or satisfactory results. Moreover, the findings revealed that there is a significant relationship between the errors committed by the students and their performance score in trigonometry. Based on the findings, a teacher-made material with corrective instructional activities which may be adopted by mathematics teachers in addressing errors in solving word problems in trigonometry was developed.

Comprehension error, encoding error, Newman’s error hierarchical model, process skills error, transformation error

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